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Planting Bare Root - upside down?!?!

sharon.gray311sharon.gray311 Posts: 9
in Plants
Can someone help! I’m in Bristol Uk and bought some bare root sea Holly (Eryngium Victory Blue) which I duly planted.

I dug them today to transplant to their final location and i noticed all the roots where turning up towards the soil surface!

Have I planted them upside down and these are actually shoots heading for the sun!!?
Do I replant them with the shoots buried or the blunt stalk down?

No photo description available

May be an image of seedlings

Posts

  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    The white bits are the shoots, so plant with them just on the surface of the soil.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • sharon.gray311sharon.gray311 Posts: 9
    punkdoc said:
    The white bits are the shoots, so plant with them just on the surface of the soil.
    Ah good that's what I've done!! Thankyou!
  • sharon.gray311sharon.gray311 Posts: 9
    sharon.gray311 said:
    punkdoc said:
    The white bits are the shoots, so plant with them just on the surface of the soil.
    Ah good that's what I've done!! Thankyou!
    So sorry should the "stalk" bit be in the ground with the white shoots on the surface of the soil?
  • StephenSouthwestStephenSouthwest Posts: 635
    sharon.gray311 said:
    Can someone help! I’m in Bristol Uk and bought some bare root sea Holly (Eryngium Victory Blue) which I duly planted.

    I dug them today to transplant to their final location and i noticed all the roots where turning up towards the soil surface!

    Have I planted them upside down and these are actually shoots heading for the sun!!?
    Do I replant them with the shoots buried or the blunt stalk down?

    No photo description available

    May be an image of seedlings

    Plant it lying flat, like in your picture
  • thevictorianthevictorian Posts: 1,279
    The thick fleshy stem is the tap root and it needs to be buried vertically in the ground. These have deep tap roots which make them more drought resistant.
    At the moment you have a wayward shoot going in the wrong direction and I would see how supple this is and try to plant it so that this is above the soil surface but if you can't bend it up I would just cut it off and leave the white/yellow crown above or level with the soil surface. With light this crown will quickly green up.
  • M33R4M33R4 Posts: 291
    Thank you for the chuckle at the title of this post. Never heard of anyone thinking they have planted a bare root (i.e exposed roots) upside down   :smiley:

    I wish I could garden all year round!
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    If in doubt, lay it on It's side and let it find it's own way.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
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